HFM News reports: Five men have gone on trial accused of stealing rare art work worth over £1.5m from a stately home near Market Harborough. The paintings, including two worth half-a-million pounds each, were stolen from Nevill Holt Hall near Medbourne in April 2019. The property's owner - millionaire David Ross - was on holiday at the time. As Nevill Holt Hall is regarded by most scholars as the principal inspiration for Bonkers Hall, I was naturally alarmed. But Lord Bonkers assures me that both his own Sunset Over Bonkers Hall and the priceless The Circumcision of the National Liberals ...
The former senior Leicester Labour Rita Patel has announced the formation of a new political party: One Leicester. Patel was one of the Labour elected mayor Sir Peter Soulsby's assistant mayors until March of this year, but left Labour after being suspended by the party for questioning whether the city should continue with the mayoral system. She then stood against Soulsby on a platform of abolishing the post of elected mayor in May's election for that role, but failed to prevent his winning a fourth term. Patel told BBC News: "Our politics, not just in Leicester, but in the rest ...
Wed 30th
17:00
Train station lift, Station Drive delays for 9 months - drop in session tomorrow (Thursday) - line c...
The long awaited project to install a lift on Platform 1 of Ludlow rail station will commence in October. During the works, Station Drive outside the station will be restricted to one lane with contra flow traffic for nine months from October to May. Network Rail is holding a drop in session to explain its plans from 3pm to 7pm tomorrow (Thursday) at the Ludlow Mascall Centre. This lift is needed, as anyone with limited mobility will know. But I am concerned that there will be disruption to traffic for up to nine months. I have a lot of questions ...
Over the last few months, a heated debate has been taking place over the expansion of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) to outer London. While this debate has continued to rage, we shouldn't forget there are other ways in which we can reduce air pollution in London and other towns and cities across the UK. One of the most interesting, but least reported methods for reducing air pollution in our cities is the use of cargo bikes. Cargo bikes are bicycles that allow you to carry cargo (or heavy loads) easily, with electrically assisted models being able to carry ...
I included an interview with Isabella Tree in a recent The Joy of Six because her book Wilding is such an inspiration: It tells the story of the daring wildlife experiment that Isabella and her husband Charlie began in 2000: rewilding their 3,500 acres of unprofitable farmland at Knepp Estate in West Sussex. In less than twenty years the degraded land has become a functioning ecosystem again, wildlife has rocketed and numerous endangered species have made Knepp their home. What has happened at Knepp challenges conventional ideas about nature, wildlife and how we manage and envisage our land. It reveals ...
Inevitably there are a few bad apples in our Police forces. However, I believe that the vast majority of our police and support staff go out determined to protects and often do so by putting their own lives at risk. ... Continue reading →
How do you save the planet when we no longer agree on key measures to save the planet? These questions are posed by Vince Cable in his latest column for Comment Central. As Vince often does, he poses questions that some Liberal Democrats will find difficult, particularly in relation to North Sea Oil licences and relations with China. Consensus between the parties is key to making long term plans to save the planet, he argues. He sets out how far the Conservatives have fallen on climate change: It was Margaret Thatcher who originally embraced the global warming issue and wider ...
Leaving the EU would not mean that the country will relax its environmental protections, they said. More recently, Ministers made a specific pledge to "not lower environmental protections or standards". And yet, that is precisely what they have done. The Independent reports that environmental campaigners have hit out at Rishi Sunak's government after it confirmed that EU-era restrictions that force housebuilders to mitigate the impact of new developments on rivers will be scrapped. They say that levelling up secretary, Michael Gove has defended plans to scrap "clunky" EU-era environmental protections on nutrient neutrality - hailing it as a Brexit benefit ...
Residents have mentioned to us that the telephone boxes in Perth Road (at the Miller's Wynd car park - this one is pictured) and in the West Port need flyposting and graffiti removed and a proper clean. We therefore wrote to BT requesting that this be carried out.
